Administered by:

Purpose of this program:

To provide immediate crisis counseling services, when required, to victims of a major Federally-declared disaster for the purpose of addressing mental health problems caused or aggravated by a major disaster or its aftermath. Assistance is short-term in nature and provided at no cost to the disaster victims.

Possible uses and use restrictions...

The Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program (CCP) is designed to provide supplemental funding to States for technical assistance and training, as well as, short-term crisis counseling services to people affected by the disaster. CCP services include: screening, diagnostic, and counseling techniques, as well as outreach services such as public information, community networking, consultation and education which can be applied to meet mental health needs after a major Federal disaster declaration. The Program is divided into an Immediate Services Program and a Regular Services Program. The Immediate Services Program enables the State or local agency to respond to the immediate mental health needs of people affected by the disaster. The Regular Services Program grant provides up to 9 months of crisis counseling, outreach, consultation and education services to people affected by a disaster. Funding for this program is separate from the Immediate Services Program.

Who is eligible to apply...

States are eligible for grants. If the Governor determines during the assessment that because of unusual circumstances or serious conditions within the State or local mental health network, the State cannot carry out the crisis counseling program, he/she may identify a public or private mental health agency or organization to carry out the program or request the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Regional Director to identify, with assistance of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), such an agency or organization.

Credentials/Documentation

Costs will be determined in accordance with OMB Circular No. A-87 for State and local governments. Grant awards will be determined in accordance with OMB Circulars No. A-102 and No. A- 87 for State and local governments. Awards made to Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals and Other Non-Profit Organizations will be required to follow the requirements of OMB Circulars No. A-110 and No. A-21.

Note:This is a brief description of the credentials or documentation required prior to, or along with, an application for assistance.

About this section:

This section indicates who can apply to the Federal government for assistance and the criteria the potential applicant must satisfy.
For example, individuals may be eligible for research grants, and the criteria to be satisfied may be that they have a professional or scientific degree,
3 years of research experience, and be a citizen of the United States. Universities, medical schools, hospitals, or State and local governments may also be eligible.
Where State governments are eligible, the type of State agency will be indicated (State welfare agency or State agency on aging) and the criteria that they
must satisfy.

Certain federal programs (e.g., the Pell Grant program which provides grants to students) involve intermediate levels of application processing, i.e., applications
are transmitted through colleges or universities that are neither the direct applicant nor the ultimate beneficiary. For these programs,
the criteria that the intermediaries must satisfy are also indicated, along with intermediaries who are not eligible.

How to apply...

Application Procedure:

Upon Federal declaration of a major disaster, the Governor's Authorized Representative must submit an application for the Immediate Services Crisis Counseling Program to the Regional Director of FEMA no later than 14 days following the declaration. The application for the Regular Services Crisis Counseling Program must be submitted by the Governor's Authorized Representative to the Regional Director, and simultaneously to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), no later than 60 days following the declaration.

Note: Each program will indicate whether applications are to be submitted to the Federal headquarters, regional or local office, or to a State or local government office.

Award Procedure:

Funds are allocated from the President's Disaster Relief Fund. The FEMA Regional Director approves Immediate Services Crisis Counseling Program grants from this allocation on the basis of the project application. Funds are awarded to State offices of emergency management, which are responsible for distributing funds to State mental health or other agency or organization identified by the Governor. The FEMA Recovery Division Director approves Regular Services Crisis Counseling Program grants upon consideration of the recommendation for approval or disapproval from the Regional Director and the DHHS. Funds are awarded to DHHS who then awards the State.

Note:Grant payments may be made by a letter of credit, advance by Treasury check, or reimbursement by Treasury check.
Awards may be made by the headquarters office directly to the applicant, an agency field office, a regional office,
or by an authorized county office. The assistance may pass through the initial applicant for further distribution by
intermediate level applicants to groups or individuals in the private sector.

Related federal programs

Deadlines and process...

Deadlines

Immediate Services Crisis Counseling Program - Applications are due within 14 days of a Presidential declaration. Regular Services Crisis Counseling Program - Applications are due within 60 days of a Presidential declaration.

Note:
When available, this section indicates the deadlines for applications to the funding agency which will
be stated in terms of the date(s) or between what dates the application should be received.
When not available, applicants should contact the funding agency for deadline information.

Range of Approval/Disapproval Time

From 1 day to 2 weeks.

Preapplication Coordination

Consultation and assistance are available from FEMA and the Center for Mental Health Services of the DHHS. This program is excluded from coverage under E.O. 12372.

Note:
This section indicates whether any prior coordination or approval is required with governmental or nongovernmental units
prior to the submission of a formal application to the federal funding agency.

Appeals

Immediate Services Crisis Counseling Program - The State may appeal the Regional Director's decision in writing within 60 days of the date of notification of the application decision. The State may further appeal the Regional Director's decision to the Assistant Associate Director within 60 days of the date of the Regional Director's notification of the application decision. Regular Services Crisis Counseling Program - The State may appeal FEMA's decision in writing within 60 days of the date of notification of the decision.

Note:
In some cases, there are no provisions for appeal. Where applicable, this section discusses appeal procedures or allowable rework time for resubmission
of applications to be processed by the funding agency. Appeal procedures vary with individual programs and are either listed in this section or
applicants are referred to appeal procedures documented in the relevant Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

Renewals

Not applicable.

Note:
In some instances, renewal procedures may be the same as for the application procedure, e.g., for projects of a non-continuing nature renewals will be treated as new, competing applications; for projects of an ongoing nature, renewals may be given annually.

Who can benefit...

In order to be eligible for services under this program, an individual must be a resident of the designated disaster area or must have been in the designated area at the time the disaster occurred.

Beneficiaries

About this section:

This section lists the ultimate beneficiaries of a program, the criteria they must satisfy and who specifically is not eligible. The applicant and beneficiary will generally be the same for programs that provide assistance directly from a Federal agency. However, financial assistance that passes through State or local governments will have different applicants and beneficiaries since the assistance is transmitted to private sector beneficiaries who are not obligated to request or apply for the assistance.

How much financial aid...

Range and Average of Financial Assistance

Not applicable.

Note:
This section lists the representative range (smallest to largest) of the amount of financial assistance available. These figures are based upon funds awarded in the past fiscal year and the current fiscal year to date. Also indicated is an approximate average amount of awards which were made in the past and current fiscal years.

Obligations

Note:
The dollar amounts listed in this section represent obligations for the past fiscal year (PY), estimates for the current fiscal year (CY), and estimates for the budget fiscal year (BY) as reported by the Federal agencies. Obligations for non-financial assistance programs indicate the administrative expenses involved in the operation of a program.

Account Identification

70-0702-0-1-453.

Note:
Note: This 11-digit budget account identification code represents the account which funds a particular program.
This code should be consistent with the code given for the program area as specified in Appendix III of the Budget of the United States Government.

Examples of funded projects...

Immediate Crisis Counseling Services for victims of floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other Federally declared major disasters as defined by the Stafford Act.

About this section

This section indicates the different types of projects which have been funded in the past. Only projects funded under Project Grants or Direct Payments for Specified Use should be listed here. The examples give potential applicants an idea of the types of projects that may be accepted for funding. The agency should list at least five examples of the most recently funded projects.

Program accomplishments...

As of fiscal year 2001, this program responded to 54 major disaster declarations in 31 States or Territories.

Criteria for selecting proposals...

Presidential declaration of a major Federal disaster. The State must justify that the needs are disaster related and beyond State and local resources.

Assistance considerations...

Length and Time Phasing of Assistance

Immediate Services Crisis Counseling Program - Provided from date of incident up to 60 days from the date of declaration. The Regular Services Crisis Counseling Program - Provided for 9 months from the date of the DHHS notice of grant award.

Formula and Matching Requirements

This program has no statutory formula or matching requirements.

Note:
A formula may be based on population, per capita income, and other statistical factors. Applicants are informed whether there are any matching requirements to be met when participating in the cost of a project. In general, the matching share represents that portion of the project costs not borne by the Federal government. Attachment F of OMB Circular No. A-102 (Office of Management and Budget) sets forth the criteria and procedures for the evaluation of matching share requirements which may be cash or in-kind contributions made by State and local governments or other agencies, institutions, private organizations, or individuals to satisfy matching requirements of Federal grants or loans.

Cash contributions represent the grantees' cash outlay, including the outlay of money contributed to the grantee by other public agencies, institutions, private organizations, or individuals. When authorized by Federal regulation, Federal funds received from other grants may be considered as the grantees' cash contribution.

In-kind contributions represent the value of noncash contributions provided by the grantee, other public agencies and institutions, private organizations or individuals. In-kind contributions may consist of charges for real property and equipment, and value of goods and services directly benefiting and specifically identifiable to the grant program. When authorized by Federal legislation, property purchased with Federal funds may be considered as grantees' in-kind contribution.

Maintenance of effort (MOE) is a requirement contained in certain legislation, regulations, or administrative policies stating that a grantee must maintain a specified level of financial effort in a specific area in order to receive Federal grant funds, and that the Federal grant funds may be used only to supplement, not supplant, the level of grantee funds.

Post assistance requirements...

Reports

Quarterly, interim and final progress reports are required. Site visits are conducted as deemed necessary by the FEMA Regional Director.

Note:
This section indicates whether program reports, expenditure reports, cash reports or performance monitoring are required by the Federal funding agency, and specifies at what time intervals (monthly, annually, etc.) this must be accomplished.

Audits

In accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular No. A-133 (Revised, June 27, 2003), "Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations," nonfederal entities that expend financial assistance of $500,000 or more in Federal awards will have a single or a program-specific audit conducted for that year. Nonfederal entities that expend less than $500,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal audit requirements for that year, except as noted in Circular No. A-133.

Note:
This section discusses audits required by the Federal agency.
The procedures and requirements for State and local governments and nonprofit entities are set forth in OMB Circular No. A-133.
These requirements pertain to awards made within the respective State's fiscal year - not the Federal fiscal year,
as some State and local governments may use the calendar year or other variation of time span designated as the fiscal year period,
rather than that commonly known as the Federal fiscal year (from October 1st through September 30th).

Records

Expenditure records and related documents must be retained for 3 years from date of final payment.

Note:
This section indicates the record retention requirements and the type of records the Federal agency may require.
Not included are the normally imposed requirements of the General Accounting Office.
For programs falling under the purview of OMB Circular No. A-102, record retention is set forth in Attachment C.
For other programs, record retention is governed by the funding agency's requirements.

Regulations...

Authorization

Note:
This section lists the legal authority upon which a program is based (acts, amendments to acts, Public Law numbers, titles, sections, Statute Codes, citations to the U.S. Code, Executive Orders, Presidential Reorganization Plans, and Memoranda from an agency head).

Regulations, Guidelines, And Literature

Contact information...

Web Sites

Regional Or Local Office

See Additional Contact Information - FMR Help for a listing of addresses for FEMA's Regional Offices.

Note:
This section lists the agency contact person, address and telephone number of the Federal Regional or Local Office(s)
to be contacted for detailed information regarding a program such as:
(1) current availability of funds and the likelihood of receiving assistance within a given period;
(2) pre-application and application forms required;
(3) whether a pre-application conference is recommended;
(4) assistance available in preparation of applications;
(5) whether funding decisions are made at the headquarters, regional or local level;
(6) application renewal procedures (including continuations and supplementals) or appeal procedures for rejected applications; and
(7) recently published program guidelines and material.
However, for most federal programs, this section will instruct the reader to consult the so-called
Appendix IV of the Catalog due to the large volume of Regional and Local Office Contacts for most agencies.
This information is provided in Additional Contact Information (see below).

Headquarters Office

Note:
This section lists names and addresses of the office at the headquarters level with direct operational responsibility for managing a program. A telephone number is provided in cases where a Regional or Local Office is not normally able to answer detailed inquiries concerning a program. Also listed are the name(s) and telephone number(s) of the information contact person(s) who can provide additional program information to applicants.

Additional Contact Information (Appendix IV)

Due to the large volume of regional and local office contacts for most agencies, full contact information is also provided separately here in a PDF format: